Fun story, according to old Norse beliefs my companion animal is a red fox.
The old nordics believed individuals and families had protection spirits called fylgie (literally follower or companion) usually in the form of an animal for individuals and women/goddesses for families. They would protect you and act on your behalf.
If you see your own fylgie it is a death omen but other people who are close to you might be lucky enough to see your fylgie while you are asleep (and people gifted in magic might even see it while you’re awake) which of course means you’re unlikely to know what your fylgie is unless someone else sees it.
So how do I know mine is a red fox? When I was 4 years old my parents rented a cottage with some friends for their summer vacation. One evening they put me to bed and the adults arranged themselves in the living room in such a way that my parents could keep an eye on me while the others had their backs to the bedroom. They just sat around and chitchatted when my parents suddenly noticed a red fox in the bedroom with me! It calmly looked around, sniffed me and walked out of the cottage like it was the most normal thing in the world at which point my parents went “OH MY GOD THERE WAS A FOX IN THE ROOM WITH OUR DAUGHTER!!!!”
For the nervous among you, red foxes aren’t dangerous to humans. They don’t even hurt babies and certainly not a 4 year old. Rabies has been eradicated among red foxes in Northern Europe so they’re just allowed to do their thing so long as they don’t eat people’s chickens/rabbits. You know, just in case you were wondering why my parents didn’t freak the fuck out and yelled at the fox.
But yeah, you can be boring and say it was just a normal fox that found it’s way into my bedroom, but it is pretty cool how perfectly it fits with fylgie beliefs.
So keep that behind your ear, if people tell you they saw an unexpected animal near you while you were asleep you’ll know what your fylgie is.